GAME THEORY FOR ECONOMICS - 86075

courses
ID:
86075
Dettaglio:
SSD: Political Economy Duration: 48 CFU: 6
Located in:
BERGAMO
Url:
ECONOMICS - 86-270/ECONOMIA Year: 3
Year:
2025

Overview

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (16/02/2026 - 29/05/2026)

Syllabus

Course Objectives

This course introduces the tools and concepts of non-cooperative game theory as developed in Gibbons (1992). It covers strategic and extensive form games, games with incomplete information, and basic applications in industrial organization, contract theory, and political economy.


Course Prerequisites

.


Teaching Methods

Frontal Lectures


Assessment Methods

Final exam or applied project



Contents

Introduction to Game Theory

  • Strategic interaction and rationality
  • Game representations: normal and extensive form
  • Gibbons, Ch. 1.1–1.2

Static Games of Complete Information

  • Dominant strategies and Nash equilibrium
  • Examples: Cournot competition, Bertrand pricing
  • Gibbons, Ch. 1.3–1.5

Mixed Strategy Equilibria

  • When pure strategies fail
  • Mixed strategies in matching pennies, market entry
  • Gibbons, Ch. 1.6

Dynamic Games of Complete Information

  • Extensive form games and subgame perfection
  • Backward induction and credible threats
  • Gibbons, Ch. 2.1–2.2

Applications of SPNE

  • Stackelberg competition
  • Sequential bargaining and commitment
  • Gibbons, Ch. 2.3–2.4

Repeated Games (Optional Extension)

  • Finitely vs. infinitely repeated games
  • Cooperation and punishment strategies
  • Supplementary notes (not covered in Gibbons)

Static Games of Incomplete Information (Bayesian Games)

  • Types, beliefs, and Bayes–Nash Equilibrium
  • Examples: auctions, labor markets
  • Gibbons, Ch. 3.1–3.2

Dynamic Games of Incomplete Information

  • Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium
  • Signaling and screening in labor and product markets
  • Gibbons, Ch. 4.1–4.3

Applications and Case Studies

  • Signaling games (education, pricing)
  • Reputation and strategic uncertainty
  • Gibbons, Ch. 4.4 and extensions

Review and Extensions

  • Summary of solution concepts
  • Trade-offs between generality, tractability, and realism
  • Student presentations or case discussions



Online Resources

More information

Primary Textbook

Robert Gibbons, A Primer in Game Theory, Pearson Education, 1992.

This concise and rigorous textbook introduces the core tools of game theory with a strong focus on economic applications. It is especially suitable for students in economics, business, and political science who want a solid theoretical foundation.


Degrees

Degrees

ECONOMICS - 86-270 
Bachelor's Degree
3 years
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People

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Main module

GAME THEORY FOR ECONOMICS